God's Sovereignty... or sympathy for me?

As I sought to begin my day. once again, John Courson had words of wisdom that struck home. Perhaps they will strike home with you.

Be blessed, be a blessing,
BE

[I only copy this as there is no perma link on his sight for this particular article.]

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Daily Devotional with Pastor John

April 23

"And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me." Genesis 42:36

Here’s the question: How will I react to difficulty? Will I be like Jacob and say, “All things are working against me”—even though I know in my heart such is not the case? Or will I be like Joseph and say, “Man may have meant this for evil, but God meant it for good” (see Genesis 50:20)?

Unfortunately, all too often, I choose the sniveling of Jacob over the security of Joseph. Why? To elicit sympathy. What is it about our flesh that wants people to think we have it hard? While this may seem an insignificant quirk, in reality, it borders on blasphemy. In getting you to feel sorry for me, I get you to question God’s goodness, provision, and protection in my life. Thus, your pity for me is at God’s expense.

Who will I be? I can be self-indulgent and allow God to be cast in a bad light, even though I know in my heart the promise given to me, the price paid for me, and the peace available within me. I can deny all of this and say, “I want you to feel sorry for me. Listen to my tragedy.”

Or, I can say, “I will not dishonor this good, gracious, loving God, who has been so kind to me, so good to me. He’s my Creator and my Father. Therefore, I will not bring shame to His name in seeking sympathy from anyone.” That is called the fear of the Lord. It’s saying, “Father, I care more about Your reputation than I do about getting sympathy from the congregation. I don’t want them to think questioningly, negatively, or blasphemously of You.”

Where are the men and women who say, “We fear God. We will not snivel. God is good and we know deep within our hearts that He is working all things together for good”?

Here’s the question: In the name of compassion, are you one who constantly weeps with others? Perhaps what we need in the Christian community during this time of self-centered Christianity are men and women who say, “I fear God. So, dear brother, precious sister, even if you don’t understand, even if you think this is cold-hearted or lacking compassion, you know that this difficulty or tragedy will work for good. Stand on that knowledge. Cling to it. I will weep for you if you don’t get it. But I’m not going to weep with you as you question God. He’s too good for that.”

May God give us wisdom. May God give us peace. May God give us understanding. All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). I know it. And so do you.

This Daily Devotional is an excerpt from the book "A Pillar By Day" by Pastor Jon. "A Pillar By Day" is a collection of 365 short devotions from the Old Testament books of Genesis through Deuteronomy.  If you would like your own copy of "A Pillar By Day" you may click here to go to the SearchLight Store

Facing our Struggles and Finding Intimacy with God

From Jon Courson’s website (I cut and paste as there is not permanent link.)

April 10

And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

Genesis 32:26

Why did God wrestle Jacob? Why does He want to wrestle with you and me? For the same reason I used to wrestle with my sons. It’s something called intimacy. God likes to wrestle things through with me and you because He enjoys us. It’s as if He says to us, “Let’s wrestle this thing through hour after hour, day after day, even month after month because not only will you find that I’ll come through eventually, but in the process, we will develop a wonderful intimacy.”
That’s why the original Greek text makes it clear that we are to “keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking” (see Matthew 7:7), for that is how intimacy is developed; that is how prayer is answered.
Wrestling provides unique opportunities for discovery. As you measure your strength against that of your opponent, as you assume various positions and are held in numerous holds, you discover things about yourself and your opponent you couldn’t have known otherwise. So too, God invites us to wrestle with Him in order that we might discover things about Him and ourselves we could learn in no other way. As you wrestle in prayer, you might find that what God gives to you and does for you is entirely different than what you had expected. Jacob asked to be blessed, instead he was broken, but the answer was better, because our Father knows best.
Keep on wrestling, gang. You’ll have intimacy with the Lord. You’ll make discoveries about the Lord. And you’ll be changed radically by the Lord in the very process of praying.

This Daily Devotional is an excerpt from the book "A Pillar By Day" by Pastor Jon. "A Pillar By Day" is a collection of 365 short devotions from the Old Testament books of Genesis through Deuteronomy.  If you would like your own copy of "A Pillar By Day" you may click here to go to the SearchLight Store